“Tension is something I’m drawn to. Tension among subjects within a single piece, a collision of forms that you don’t usually see in nature. Tension of forms is definitely a recurring theme. I usually have an idea of the main form, then I identify what will satisfy the need I have to provoke tension. Within that tension I seek harmony between dissimilar, conflicting materials or subjects. Within I have a story, an idea in mind, or a tale to tell. Often the idea or story presents itself as I am working on the piece. Some things take more effort, but they tend to find their meaning.”

Cyrus Tilton’s mother and father espoused the values of the back-to-nature movement of the Sixties and when they were first married, set up house in a remote river valley in the wilderness northeast of Anchorage. His father has worked as a commercial fisherman and park engineer. His mother went from tending vegetables in the family truck patch to being a master gardener who has designed gardens for clients. Cyrus remembers being a toddler in a one-room cabin; he remembers his mother fetching water for his bath from the river below the house; he remembers getting a home visit from a bear. The vast expanses of Alaska were always just outside Cyrus’ back door, even when the family moved to a house in Chugiak, close to Anchorage. From there, he could still trace with his eye the profile of Mt. Susitna, the great “Sleeping Lady” that dominates the horizon west of Anchorage, and watch the seasons roll through the splendid birch forests of the great north. Since then he’s been searching for elements of The Great Good Place in all the locales where life has taken him. His move to the Bay Area brought him into contact with a post-industrial urban landscape, where he now observes the processes of decay at work in concrete and steel with the same keenness that he watched, back in Alaska, the powerful effects of weathering and erosion on his surroundings. Wherever he goes, he never leaves behind his love of nature and his delight in analyzing the intricate structures of organic forms. He is represented by Lonnie Lee, and Vessel Gallery (www.vessel-gallery.com, 510-893-8800.) For more information, email info@vessel-gallery.com